Category: politics
Rugby World Cup threatens legal action over Greenpeace protest video
The climate campaigners’ video flooded the Stade de France with oil in protest of TotalEnergies’ sponsorship of the Rugby World Cup – now it’s facing backlash.
In a letter seen by The Drum, a representative from Rugby World Cup Limited (RWCL) contacted Greenpeace regarding the video ‘Total Pollution: A Dirty Game,’ which utilizes a number of RWCL’s registered trademarks, including the Rugby World Cup and Rugby World Cup France 2023 logos, as well as the trademarks and logos of its member unions and commercial partners of the tournament.
“Your use of the RWCL IP has not been authorized by RWCL and/or the relevant commercial partner or member unions and therefore infringes RWCL’s and their intellectual property rights,” it reads.
It goes on to order that “in order to avoid the need for formal legal proceedings,” Greenpeace should “immediately cease and desist” on the grounds that the intellectual property of RWCL has been used without authorization and that, if Greenpeace wishes to avoid legal proceedings, it should remove the video and “refrain from any such use again in the future.”
A spokesperson from RWCL told The Drum it is not currently pursuing legal action but said: “There is guidance around the use of Rugby World Cup IP, which Greenpeace could have sought. This can be rectified.”
They added: “The France 2023 organizing committee reached out to engage with leading campaign groups and NGOs on shaping the tournament’s sustainability program. Greenpeace was the only one to decline.”
But Greenpeace maintains that its use of RWCL trademarks in the video is perfectly lawful, writing in its response to RWCL: “You state no legal basis for the demands issued to us and we fail to see that such a basis exists.”
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Sadiq Khan rubbishes Tory minister’s Ulez ‘cash grab’ claims
Traffic in South London. https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/sadiq-khan-rubbishes-tory-ministers-ulez-cash-grab-claims
LONDON Mayor Sadiq Khan has rubbished claims made by Tory Transport Minister Mark Harper about the extension of London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez).
As the expansion of the zone to cover all London boroughs came into force today, Labour mayor told BBC Breakfast that Mr Harper had made factual errors in his criticisms of it.
“If it was a cash grab, as the government is saying, just to raise money, I’d have acceded to their demand to expand the Ulez without proper consultation and a proper scrappage scheme.”
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Mr Khan said: “In a couple of years’ time, TfL has predicted there will be no additional money made because the number of non-compliant vehicles will decrease.
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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/sadiq-khan-rubbishes-tory-ministers-ulez-cash-grab-claims
Michael Gove gets rinsed over claim Britain’s waters are cleaner under Tories
“The Tories are now going for outright gaslighting on water quality”
Image of a burst water main. Michael Gove has faced fierce criticism for attempting to defend his party’s reputation on water pollution by claiming Britain’s water quality has got cleaner, while stating standards had got higher.
It comes as the Levelling Up Secretary scrapped EU-era water pollution restrictions for new homes, which will see taxpayers picking up the bill for pollution caused by housebuilders.
In an attempt to justify the latest Tory assault on environmental regulation, Gove insisted on Times Radio that rivers are ‘cleaner than they have been in the past’.
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Commentators accused Gove of lying and suggested the reason EU countries were spending less money on improving water supplies was because they do not need the vast scale of improvements required in the UK due to decades of water company mismanagement.
Singer and clean water campaigner Feargal Sharkey offered Gove some assistance in getting the facts straight.
“Let me help with that,” Sharkey replied. “Not a single river in England passes the chemical test, not one, they all fail, every single one.
“The ecology test? In 2009 25% of rivers were in ‘Good’ condition, 2016 fell to 14%, govt’s prediction by 2027 that will have fallen to 6%. Shame on you.”
Furthermore, recent analysis has suggested that illegal levels of toxic pollutant, like ammonia, released into rivers by water companies goes undetected due to a flawed ‘self-monitoring’ system by the Environment Agency.
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Too hot to handle: climate crisis report so secret Albanese government won’t even reveal date it was completed
Image of a kangaroo. Anthony Albanese continues to reject calls to make even a sanitised version of the assessment public
The Australian government is refusing to release its secret report on how the climate crisis will fuel national security threats and is also refusing to say when it was completed.
The government insists the date, too, is classified. The approach has sparked claims of a “cult of secrecy in Canberra”.
Anthony Albanese ordered the Office of National Intelligence (ONI) last year to investigate national security threats posed by global heating, in line with an election promise.
When it notified the United Nations of Australia’s stronger 2030 emissions reduction target, the government trumpeted its commitment to “an urgent climate risk assessment of the implications of climate change for national security”.
So far, however, the government has rebuffed calls to release the assessment – or even a sanitised public version, as it did with the defence strategic review.
In a new response to Senate questions on notice, the prime minister confirmed the ONI’s climate assessment was finalised “within the last 12 months”. But Albanese added: “The specific timing of the assessment board is classified.”
Five other questions from the Greens’ defence spokesperson, David Shoebridge, were answered with an identical response: “The content and judgments of the assessment are classified.”
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Das ist verboten
